@charlotte12 I had two surgeries at Mayo both at their Methodist Hospital. The first was the hysterectomy for endometrial cancer and the second was for a hip replacement. For both surgeries I met the anesthesiologist shortly before when they came to talk with me about the anesthesia. I had general anesthesia for the hysterectomy so that conversation was about what would happen in the operating room, and that the "screening" I had the day before which included blood tests, EKG, and a lung x-ray all looked good to proceed. For the hip replacement I had a choice of anesthesias so the anesthesiologist talked with me in detail about these choices. I got to talk with the anesthesiologist about my fears about the surgery and he was very reassuring. He answered my questions.

Whether or not you meet the anesthesiologist right before your surgery or before that could be answered by your surgeon or their office. Does that seem like a good idea to you?